On another board I post on (to do with body building), there are a few guys who are absolutely convinced that high dosage EFAs are the best way to fight inflammation.
Is anyone familiar with the evidence base (or lack of) with regards to taking fish oil and reducing inflammation?
This is the problem of woo activities in general, taking evidence from petri dishes and associations and jumping to conclusions. This is indeed a huge area of research and EFAs are the latest possible explanation of the association between a Mediterranian or High Fish diet and less atherosclerosis - which of course has an inflammatory component. However, when it comes to standard inflammatory diseases (inflammatory arthitis, Crohn's disease, sepsis etc) you won't find much use of these.
Any way selected from 942 articles on pubmed in respect of fish oils and inflammation:
Biochimie. 2009 Feb 3. [Epub ahead of print]Related Articles, Links
Polyunsaturated fatty acids and inflammatory processes: new twists in an old tale.
Calder PC.
Institute of Human Nutrition, School of Medicine, University of Southampton, IDS Building, MP887 Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton SO16 6YD, United Kingdom.
The n-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid (AA; 20:4n-6) gives rise to eicosanoid mediators that have established roles in inflammation and AA metabolism is a long recognized target for commonly used anti-inflammatory therapies. It has generally been assumed that all AA derived eicosanoids are pro-inflammatory. However this is an over-simplification since some actions of eicosanoids are anti-inflammatory (e.g. prostaglandin (PG) E(2) inhibits production of some inflammatory cytokines) and it has been discovered quite recently that PGE(2) inhibits production of inflammatory leukotrienes and induces production of inflammation resolving lipoxin A(4). The n-3 fatty acids from oily fish and "fish oils", eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3), are incorporated into inflammatory cell phospholipids in a time- and dose-dependent manner. They are incorporated partly at the expense of AA, but also of other n-6 fatty acids. EPA and DHA inhibit AA metabolism. Thus production of AA-derived eicosanoids is decreased by these n-3 fatty acids; this occurs in a dose-dependent manner. EPA gives rise to an alternative family of eicosanoids (e.g. PGE(3)), which frequently, but not always, have lower potency than those produced from AA. Recently a new family of EPA- and DHA-derived lipid mediators called resolvins (E-series and D-series) has been described. These have potent anti-inflammatory and inflammation resolving properties in model systems. It seems likely that these mediators will explain many of the anti-inflammatory actions of n-3 fatty acids that have been described. In addition to modifying the profile of lipid-derived mediators, fatty acids can also influence peptide mediator (i.e. cytokine) production. To a certain extent this action may be due to the altered profile of regulatory eicosanoids, but it seems likely that eicosanoid-independent actions are a more important mechanism. Indeed effects on transcription factors that regulate inflammatory gene expression (e.g. nuclear factor kappa B) seem to be important.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jul 22. [Epub ahead of print]Related Articles, Links
No effect of fish oil supplementation on serum inflammatory markers and their interrelationships: a randomized controlled trial in healthy, middle-aged individuals.
Pot GK, Brouwer IA, Enneman A, Rijkers GT, Kampman E, Geelen A.
Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Background:A high intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), mainly present in fish, may be associated with decreased inflammation. Previous intervention studies on fish PUFA and inflammatory markers in healthy individuals did not analyze a broad spectrum of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and cell adhesion molecules, or their interrelationships. Therefore, we determined the effects of fish oil supplementation on 19 serum inflammatory markers and their interrelationships in healthy, middle-aged individuals.Methods:Individuals (n=77) aged 50-70 years completed a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled intervention study. Participants received 3.5 g/day fish oil (1.5 g/day total n-3 PUFA) (n=39) or placebo (high oleic sunflower oil) (n=38) for 12 weeks. Serum concentrations of 19 inflammatory markers were determined using a multiplex immunoassay before and after intervention. Changes in concentrations were analyzed using analysis of covariance and differences in patterns in inflammatory markers between the fish oil and placebo group were analyzed by principal component analysis.Results:Fish oil supplementation did not significantly affect serum concentrations of cytokines, chemokines or cell adhesion molecules as compared with placebo. However, there was a trend for all inflammatory markers to increase after fish oil supplementation. PCA did not result in markedly distinctive patterns of inflammatory markers for the fish oil and placebo group.Conclusion:In conclusion, this 12-week randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled intervention trial did not show that 1.5 g/day n-3 PUFA significantly affected the serum inflammatory response in healthy individuals, nor did patterns of inflammatory markers. Thus, a healthy middle-aged population may not benefit from fish oil as an anti-inflammatory agent.European Journal of Clinical Nutrition advance online publication, 22 July 2009; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2009.63.
Cool, I knew you'd post witihn minutes
I'll just try and decipher that now.
May I just mention my deep and utter respect for you and all your opinions. If I've ever accidentally disagreed with you about anything I take it back and I'm very very sorry.Originally Posted by FarSideOfTheMoon
I'm an 8 stone weakling, just trying to get big to stop those bullies kicking sand in my girlfriend's face on the beach.
Hands up everyone who has a clue what this is about ...I'm an 8 stone weakling, just trying to get big to stop those bullies kicking sand in my girlfriend's face on the beach.
Oh I see, body building. My body is already built, it happened naturally many years ago, so I guess I don't need any ...
'Body Building' is such a crap term, but I love using it because it instantly kicks off that instinctive stereotypical response
But Charles Atlas says he can make a man of you in just 7 days. Surely you don't need any more body building?I'm an 8 stone weakling, just trying to get big to stop those bullies kicking sand in my girlfriend's face on the beach.
(Oh yes, and you're a dickhead, everything you've ever said was wrong)
Perhaps it's the distinction between building the original edifice and trying to build an extension.
I was recommended various fish oils to fight inflammation. They did nothing at all. I would recommend dicloflenac sodum though. Might be best to discuss that with your doctor though, incase your physiology isnt compatible with it (conjunction with other medicines causing a reaction etc)
This wasn't for me initially.....although I really did my back in badly at the weekend......so it might be now.
I used diclofenac when I had a couple of broken ribs and it *seemed* to do the job. Quite a few bad reports from people out there, but apart from the people who react badly to it, I guess you just need to try to keep use as short term as possible.
There's a real perception out there that fish oil is effective now, someone was telling me that he's seen lots of evidence coming through from people at his university. I don't necessarily trust him what he's saying for some reason though.....
Last edited by FarSideOfTheMoon; 28th September 2009 at 11:25 AM.
It's a great drug; it worked a treat when I bashed myself about falling down a bankside. Unfortunately it caused bleeding in my intestines, so I had to come off it after a couple of days. Nothing else relieved the pain as effectively.
I've had a five-stone extension built - unfortunately it's all in the wrong places. I was 10.5 stones from being a teenager through to my forties. Then I retired and promptly gained 2 stones - and I gave up smoking adding another 3. So now I'm suck at 15.5 stone and no amount of exercise or diet restriction seems to budge it at all.
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